[Archived] Archmage Hexblast | 4M+ Ignite DPS | Budget Options League Start to Endgame
" I'm really glad to hear that! I originally picked up Hexblast because I thought it was cool and all, but I did not expect to get far with it. It turned out great though! Let me know if you run into any hurdles while progressing the build in the future so I can tweak it to perfection. | |
" Only thing that i have trouble with is using MoM early on without not enough mana. So i'm still not using it because i just run out of mana so quickly. Should upgrade some gear tho ;) | |
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Ok question for you how did you craft the sceptre you use or did you just get lucky and buy it?
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" I got lucky and bought it on trade. However, I did ask the guy how he got it and apparently, he just had the base scepter without the influence modifier, used the Hunter's Exalted Orb, got lucky, and hit the Malevolence modifier. The easiest way of crafting it would probably be to repeat what he did: get a non-influenced scepter as good as possible (doesn't have to have the exact same modifiers that mine has, can be a different combination of fire/burning damage, it has to have a free suffix though!), use the Hunter's Exalted Orb, hope to hit Malevolence modifier. If you do not hit the Malevolence modifier, use remove/add influence harvest craft until you do. I looked at trade though and there doesn't seem to be many scepters that are good for that. I will put together a crafting section for the scepter and post it by tomorrow. It will probably involve harvest crafting though, in one way or another and, depending on your luck, it might increase the late endgame budget by quite a lot. | |
" Since I'm running out of characters in the original post, I will post the scepter crafting instructions here: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ SCEPTRE CRAFTING ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ If there is no scepter on trade, you can craft it yourself using harvest: Method #1 - more deterministic - more expensive to get an OK scepter - less expensive (than method #2, it is still expensive) to get an insane scepter
Spoiler
1. Buy a good base. It has to have mana and generic damage over time multiplier because these two modifiers cannot be targeted by harvest crafts (ideally tier 1). It also has to be ivl 84+. Perfect base is either Opal or Void, otherwise, get one with around 30% elemental damage implicit. Make sure that all the other modifiers can be target-removed by harvest! (they have to have tags: attack, physical, caster, speed, critical, fire, cold, lightning, chaos, life or defence), or buy a cheap one and risk using Orbs of Annulment. https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Ritual/lVMZaMwcV 2. Remove all modifiers except "+ to maximum mana" and "+ to damage over time multiplier" (if you have one lightning prefix and one suffix that can be target removed (ideally cold or the other way around), you can keep it. We will use it to block other modifiers later). 3. Bench-craft "cannot roll attack modifiers" suffix. This will block the "adds fire damage" modifier. 4. Augment lightning. 4.1. If you get any lightning prefix (very high chance), then use augment fire. 4.1.1. If you get a fire prefix, use augment cold. The cold modifier will be a 3rd suffix so it will block suffixes completely. Then use rem/add lightning until you get "adds lightning damage to spells" modifier (if you do not have it already). This will block the "adds fire damage to spells" modifier. 4.1.2. If you get a fire suffix, use rem/add fire until you get a prefix, then use augment cold. The cold modifier will be a 3rd suffix so it will block suffixes completely. Then use rem/add lightning until you get "adds lightning damage to spells" modifier (if you do not have it already). This will block the "adds fire damage to spells" modifier. 4.2. If you get a lightning suffix, then use augment cold, then augment fire (guaranteed fire prefix) and then rem/add cold until you hit "adds cold damage to spells" prefix. 5. If you are lucky you got a good roll on your fire prefix modifier on the first try. Otherwise, use rem/add fire until you do. Good prefixes are "increased fire damage" and "to fire damage over time multiplier". - Here the budget for the final craft can vary a lot depending on how good you want your scepter to be (and how much currency you have). You can use this method to reach tier 2 or tier 1 modifiers but it will be costly. If you plan to push this build to its limits, you should try to get high tiers in this step because we will remove the modifiers that block "adds fire damage" and "adds fire damage to spells" later, otherwise follow my advise below. - My advice for a good, but not extremely expensive scepter is: if you get tier 4 or higher prefix (either "increased fire damage" or "to fire damage over time multiplier"), continue to step 6. Otherwise, use rem/add fire until you hit at least tier 4 prefix (again "increased fire damage" or "to fire damage over time multiplier"). This could take you approximately 10 to 20 rem/add fire crafts, depending on what tier you want to reach. 6. Remove the elemental suffix (either cold or lightning - depending on what you got in step 4). 7. Bench-craft a fire-resistance suffix and augment fire. There is a very high chance to hit at least tier 4 burning or fire damage suffix. - If you get really unlucky, you will need to go back. Bench-craft any cheap non-fire suffix, then remove fire. 7.1. If you are lucky and remove a fire suffix, then simply bench-craft fire-resistance again and augment fire. If you are lucky this time you get a better suffix now. 7.2. If you remove the good fire prefix, you need to start over (around step 4). Bench-craft "cannot roll attack modifiers" again. Remove fire again to get rid of the bad fire suffix too. Then augment fire, if you get a prefix, then augment cold (or lighting) to lock suffixes, otherwise use rem/add fire until you get a fire prefix and augment cold (or lightning) after that. Then you repeat from step 5. 8. Remove the elemental prefix (either cold or lightning depending on what you got in step 4). 9. Bench-craft either "increased fire damage" or "to fire damage over time multiplier" prefix depending on what you got in step 5. 10. Use the Hunter's Exalted Orb. If you are lucky, you get the "Malevolence has increased aura effect" on the first try, otherwise continue to step 11. - The influenced modifier "ignites you inflict deal damage faster" is also good. It increases your dps but makes your ignites shorter. It is a matter of preference. I don't personally like it but if you want to, you can go for it. 11. Use rem/add influence until you hit the "Malevolence has increased aura effect" modifier. You have 14% to get it and 7% to get tier 1. 12. Divine to perfection. NOTE: - After you use the two fire augments in the step 5, this sceptre becomes perfectly usable for this build. You do not need to craft it all at once! Just use it with whatever you have just got and throw rem/add fire at it when you get the currency for it. The same applies for the step 9. Method #2 - easier to hit an OK item - harder to get higher tiers - step 5 changes two fire modifiers at the same time
Spoiler
1. Buy a good base. It has to have mana and generic damage over time multiplier because these two modifiers cannot be targeted by harvest crafts (ideally tier 1). It also has to be ivl 84+. Perfect base is either Opal or Void, otherwise, get one with around 30% elemental damage implicit. Make sure that all the other modifiers can be target-removed by harvest! (they have to have tags: attack, physical, caster, speed, critical, fire, cold, lightning, chaos, life or defence), or buy a cheap one and risk using Orbs of Annulment. https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Ritual/lVMZaMwcV 2. Remove all modifiers except "+ to maximum mana" and "+ to damage over time multiplier" (if you have one lightning (or cold) prefix, you can keep it. We will use it to block other modifiers later). 3. Bench-craft "cannot roll attack modifiers" suffix. This will block the "adds fire damage" modifier. 4. Augment lightning. - If you get any lightning prefix (very high chance), use 2 times augment fire (you will get one fire prefix and one fire suffix)and then rem/add lightning until you get "adds lightning damage to spells" modifier (if you do not have it already). This will block the "adds fire damage to spells" modifier. - If you get a lightning suffix, use rem/add lightning until you get any lighting prefix, then 2 times augment fire and then rem/add lightning until you get "adds lightning damage to spells" modifier (if you do not have it already). The result will be the same. 5. If you are lucky you got good modifiers while using the fire augments on the first try. Otherwise use rem/add fire until you do. Good prefixes are "increased fire damage" and "to fire damage over time multiplier". Good suffixes are "increased fire damage" and "increased burning damage". - Here the budget for the final craft can vary a lot depending on how good you want your scepter to be (and how much currency you have). You can use this method to reach tier 2 or tier 1 modifiers but it will be cosltly. If you plan to push this build to its limits, you should try to get high tiers in this step because we will remove the modifiers that block "adds fire damage" and "adds fire damage to spells" later, otherwise follow my advise below. - My advise for a good, but not extremely expensive scepter is: if you get tier 3 or higher prefix (either "increased fire damage" or "to fire damage over time multiplier"), continue to step 6 whatever the suffix is. Otherwise, use rem/add fire until you hit at least tier 4 prefix (again "increased fire damage" or "to fire damage over time multiplier") and at least tier 4 suffix ("increased fire damage" or "increased burning damage"). This could take you approximately 10 to 20 rem/add fire crafts. 6. Remove lightning. 7. Bench-craft either "increased fire damage" or "to fire damage over time multiplier" prefix depending on what you got in step 5. 8. Use the Hunter's Exalted Orb. If you are lucky, you get the "Malevolence has increased aura effect" on the first try, otherwise continue to step 9. - The influenced modifier "ignites you inflict deal damage faster" is also good. It increases your dps but makes your ignites shorter. It is a matter of preference. I don't personally like it but if you want to, you can go for it. 9. Use rem/add influence until you hit the "Malevolence has increased aura effect" modifier. You have 14% to get it and 7% to get tier 1. 10. Divine to perfection. NOTE: - After you use the two fire augments in the step 5, this sceptre becomes perfectly usable for this build. You do not need to craft it all at once! Just use it with whatever you have just got and throw rem/add fire at it when you get the currency for it. The same applies for the step 9. Last edited by GimbO on Mar 3, 2021, 1:10:58 PM
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I am looking for some new builds to play and I love ignite/prolif builds. However, I prefer to play hardcore. Any idea how you would make a hardcore variant tree out of your current one? Drop dmg and add life seems sensible, but I just don't know where.
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I have never played hardcore and I still die here and there using this build so I wouldn't really recommend it for hardcore players. However, if you really want to try it, I came up with a possible hardcore variant of this build: https://pastebin.com/SyYRkCfS
I think that simply adding more life would not be enough. The life and mana pools that this build has are already good enough as it is, but what you could scale heavily is damage reduction and even more regen. The easiest way to do so would be stacking the cluster notable Stubborn Studen 4 times, dropping Malevolence and picking up Determination instead. Also, get a different anointment for endurance charges and +1 min. endurance charges on one of your rings. You can reach 22k armour this way, but you sacrifice Malevolence and you have to use Large clusters which give smaller dps compared to Medium ones. You can also get a Watcher's eye to make even better use of Determination. I would also get Cremator, even though it is not the highest dps notable, to destroy corpses. You would also need to focus on your chaos resistance much more. You can get it on sceptre and belt. I would also pick up Atziri's Promise Amethyst Flask to boost damage and chaos res. Immunities to poison, bleeding and shock are definitely a must-have on your flasks. Another form of protection is mana regen itself (and therefore life regen since we use the Agnostic notable). PoB shows negative mana regen because it does not count with your Arcane Surge from Hierophant ascendancy. If you include the Arcane Surge, you actually have around 900 mana regen per second even through the Agnostic mana degen. If you feel like you need more, you could drop determination and pick up Clarity instead or drop Supreme Ego and have both Clarity and Determination active - Determination inside Essence Worm, Clarity outside. This would decrease your unreserved mana and you would have lower damage reduction but more regen. It is up to you. If you decide to try it out definitely let me know! EDIT: you can also use Vaal Molten Shell since this variant has so much armor. If you drop Arcane Surge and get Molten Shell on Cast when damage taken setup, your survivability would increase by A LOT while also sacrificing a lot of damage. Another option would be to use a templar variant. Templar (hiero/inq) have better defensive options but they could struggle with scaling damage. I can definitely recommend you to check out alloces on YouTube. He made a hexblast archmage heirophant and hexblast battlemage inquisitor variants. Both of these builds have very good defensive with the endgame gear (check out his Sirus video where he tanks Sirus beams), but he uses some expensive items and I'm not sure how would his builds perform on a budget (I haven't looked into it too much yet, you will have to figure it out yourself). Hexblast Battlemage Inquisitor by alloces: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Igw3mb5OI9g Hexblast Archmage Hierophant by alloces: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hicUJeW8GfA&t=8s Last edited by GimbO on Mar 7, 2021, 9:57:31 AM
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Levelling with this build was a lot of fun. Now I'm in early mapping (well... tier 5-7) I'm getting one-shotted and dropped constantly.
I'm sure I'm doing something wrong. Resists are all fine but life pool is pretty low, at around 2.5K. But it's pretty hard to increase, with all the unique items currently equipped. I've even taken to using Determination to bump up armour. Advice welcome, I've reached a pretty frustrating point. :( | |
" Hey, I'm sorry to hear that. Could you make your character's profile public so that I might take a look (in the privacy settings of your profile)? Or better yet send me a PoB of your character if you know how to export it. It is hard to say what is wrong otherwise. I assume that you already got all the items that I have mentioned in the Early Mapping gear section but I will stress out the most important ones: - Get proper flasks with proper immunities (mainly bleeding). We use four defensive flasks in this build and using them regularly should help you a lot. - Also, bind Arcane Cloak to your movement key (left-click most likely) so that you do not forget to cast if off cooldown (just like I have it bind in the videos). It is a big defensive boost with only a few seconds of downtime. - Get the cluster jewel with Evil Eye notable - it does not have to have anything else, just that one notable. - Get the Vigil jewel and use General's Cry linked to Vigil strike to get Fortify. Make sure that once you summon the warriors that you stand near them when they hit a target because you won't get the fortify buff otherwise (check your buffs regularly to see if you have the fortify buff up). Also, there have to be corpses around you when you use General's cry - it won't spawn any warriors otherwise. If there are no corpses around, use Desecrate. (You can also use Shield Charge for fortify, but if you have trouble surviving, I would advise you to use General's cry instead - even for mapping. It will allow you to play from distance and not melee.) - Cloak of Defiance, even 5-linked is a huge defensive boost. Get it if you can afford it. If you cannot afford it, do not forget to allocate Mind Over Matter on the passive skill tree! - Get Disciple of the Unyielding anointment on your Atziri's Foible amulet. - If you can afford it, then consider upgrading the boots to Omeyocan. Other than that, just get as much life and mana as you can on your rare gear. If you have all that, then the last thing that comes to my mind is the playstyle. Simply play more defensively - by which I mean: cast from afar and do not stand still while castig cure + hexblast. Cast curse, move a little bit aside and only then cast hexblast. This will enable you to manually dodge most projectiles that mobs throw at you and you don't even lose much damage since you have to wait for doom anyway. To say anything more specific, I would have to see your profile or PoB. | |
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Surprisingly (to me, even), I have just about all the items you listed. The only exception are the Omeyocan boots, and the Cloak of Defiance is only a 4-link at the moment.
Here's a PoB link anyway, your input would be appreciated, thank you in advance. https://pastebin.com/hJUaanfh |
